As the last man to lift the William Webb Ellis Trophy and one of the greatest lock forwards in the history of the game, Martin Johnson's words carry a fair amount of weight, and England's World Cup captain of 2003 believes that, in light of the Six Nations, Ireland have the best chance of making an impact in France later this year.

"They'll be kicking themselves that they let a Grand Slam slip through their fingers, but this will be the best Ireland side ever to go to a World Cup," said Johnson yesterday. "They are an assured team; they have the ability to win close games or win with style and they are very strong all round.

"They can play it and mix it different ways," he added. "They have a great kicking game, good attack and good defence, and a core of world-class players, which is what you need. If I was them you would have to be thinking in terms of getting to a World Cup final."

Johnson conceded that Ireland's group, which contains the hosts and reigning Six Nations champions France, Argentina, Namibia and Georgia, is the most difficult of the four, and bearing in mind that the All Blacks will most probably await the runners-up from Pool D in the quarter-final in Cardiff, he also observed: "The caveat is that they have to win the pool, but they can do that."

The England captain throughout a succession of Grand Slam near-misses, before they reached their holy grail of Grand Slam winners in 2003 before winning the World Cup, likened the current Irish team to where England were about a year before the World Cup.

"Ireland are like where we were in 1999 to 2002. They know they can do it, beat any team, as we thought we could, but you have to go out and actually do it."

Of the other main European contenders in the light of this recently completed Six Nations, Johnson commented: "France played well throughout the tournament except for the one-off at Twickenham, Wales saved themselves, Italy came through despite losing their first game (at home to France), when people thought they might do well and spring a surprise, and Scotland showed how much they missed Jason White. It was an inconsistent tournament, and no side showed total consistency."